John Mica
GOP ‘Streamlining’ Plan Threatens to Clear a Path for Highways and Pollution
The summary of the House Transportation Committee’s reauthorization bill – no legislative text has been released yet – includes several provisions for “streamlining” project delivery. While on its face, a little streamlining could help reduce excessive delays and bring costs in line, environmentalists are concerned that underlying the “streamlining” provision is a desire to gut environmental review processes and stifle public input.
July 20, 2011
Rail-Wary FL Gov. Scott Threw Caution to the Wind in Supporting SunRail
On Monday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will travel to Orlando for the ground-breaking of the SunRail commuter rail project in central Florida. We reported with some pleasure two weeks ago that Gov. Rick Scott had approved the project. But what we didn’t mention was that there’s significant opposition to the project, and it’s not all from the usual suspects of Tea Partiers and deficit hawks and transit haters.
July 15, 2011
Mica: Why Are the Democrats Picking On Me?
We were sad to see that Rep. Mica was sad to see that the Democrats were sad to see that the House transportation proposal is an unmitigated disaster for transportation policy.
July 12, 2011
Mica’s Transportation Proposal: Responses Flood In
The GOP transportation proposal is now online.
July 7, 2011
Mica Transpo Bill Shrinks Spending 33%, Eliminates Bike-Ped Guarantee
House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica’s proposed transportation reauthorization bill includes $230 billion over six years, a reduction of 33 percent compared to spending levels in the last multi-year bill. The proposal, which he unveiled at a standing-room-only press event in the committee hearing room today, eliminates any federal guarantee (he calls it a “set-aside”) for bicycle and pedestrian programs, as part of his drive to consolidate the federal transportation bureaucracy. Transit will still get a 20 percent share of surface transportation dollars, compared to 80 percent for highways.
July 7, 2011
Mica’s Measurements: $230 Billion, Six Years
Early reports have spilled some of the beans on Rep. John Mica’s proposal for the next transportation reauthorization, which he’s rolling out for reporters in an hour. (Note that he’s still not formally introducing the bill and we’ll have no draft legislative text to pore over. With luck, he’ll at least give a timeline today for when that’s coming.)
July 7, 2011
Finally: Rustlings of a Reauthorization
First, the House and Senate pledged they'd have a bill marked up by Memorial Day. Then it was definitely going to come in June. (One staffer even told me that they were still planning on it coming "in the spring," so it would be before the summer solstice -- June 21.) But it looks like we might finally get a first glimpse of the fight ahead.
July 6, 2011
Rumor Mill: House Leadership Hostile to Transpo Reauthorization
A few weeks ago, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor published his list of bills the House will attempt to get through before the August recess. The transportation reauthorization was not among them.
June 28, 2011
The Economist Issues a Reality Check to Rail Privatization Proponents
The Economist's blog on business travel, Gulliver, has a short post this morning about Rep. John Mica's proposal to privatize the Northeast Corridor. Blogger "N.B." has a healthy dose of skepticism for arguments on either side but does significantly more damage to Mica's argument that that of his opponents. Gulliver strikes a blow at the very idea that private companies can accomplish what Mica hopes they will:
June 27, 2011